Hi Battlespot,
I've been using this team to start with on the poke-showdown ladder(Battlespot Singles), after 100 games I have some questions(I copied the sets from the strategy dex and then tweaked some things I think detrimentally...)
The reason I don't believe it's ready for an RMT is threefold.
1. First team I have put together, and I really want to use the "Fantasy Core" (Hippo/M-Lucario/Dragonite) but am not actually sure how to build it properly after those three.
2. I need to make some changes and am struggling against things such as Greninja, minimize baton pass teams, M-Venasaur(Thick Fat, seems to wall me pretty well) and Suicune.
3. EV Spreads, these are all basic but I think that might be optimal for these Pokemon, however my team seems probably a bit "sweeper" heavy and needs a bit more support as I often go down quickly if the first few turns don't go my way.(first 100 battles of pokemon I've ever had too I guess).
I'll put the output from showdown and highlight things I think need changing a bit with a short summary.
Dragonite (M) @
Weakness Policy
Ability: Multiscale
Level: 50
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Extreme Speed
- Dragon Dance
- Outrage
- Earthquake
This set is good but maybe I should go with Choice Band or Lum Berry here, Is it worth trying the EV's to survive things like Greninja Ice beam, I find I do get OHKOd even with multiscale semi-often. Weakness policy and dragon dance is pretty amazing when it happens but maybe its over-kill anyway?, I probably don't know speed tiers well enough as to when I'm faster or not yet either I think.
Cloyster @ King's Rock
Ability: Skill Link
Level: 50
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Ice Shard
- Icicle Spear
- Shell Smash
- Rock Blast
In 100 games I think I have used Cloyster about 4 times, 3 of which he just died in one hit after I shell smash(not good at using, he possibly doesn't work like dragonite..), I do feel like people never bring Garchomp or other dragons against me much and it could be because of this guy however, I don't know if that's enough to justify a team slot.
Gengar-Mega @
Gengarite
Ability: Shadow Tag
Level: 50
EVs: 188 HP / 62 Def / 4 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Hex
- Hypnosis
- Clear Smog
- Focus Blast
So I saw that casino Gengar set on here and thought it looked really fun, then I struggled a lot against some minimize baton pass calm mind teams and figured I'd get more mileage out of clear smog than Destiny Bond (which I never used).
This Pokemon has won me a lot of games from the lead 3-0 but as the set is a bit "casino" if you don't land those Hypnosis or Focus Blast it can also be pretty useless.(I'd say its won me a lot more than lost me however).
Would this work as a Focus Sash user instead of mega-stone? sometimes I want to bring Lucario and Gengar but it feels weird to have a useless item on one of them. I will probably change Clear Smog back to destiny bond (after seeing some videos of other people using it well) But also need an answer to those teams (FYI Clear Smog on Gengar hasn't cleared a single status boost yet he just dies or they don't try the same stuff anyway somehow..)
Hippowdon @
Rocky Helmet
Ability: Sand Stream
Level: 50
EVs:
252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 SpD
Serious Nature
IVs: 25 Spe
- Yawn
- Slack Off
- Stealth Rock
- Earthquake
I was getting OHKO'd by a lot of special attacks (Greninja and maybe some others), so I thought I'd use the SpD variant, however now I find he lives too long and by the time they kill him they have either set up a bit, sandstorm finished and possibly only chipped one pokemon, which might have some recovery move anyway. I might change Earthquake back to something that hits levitate/flying pokemon as I find I don't have any attacks to use fairly often if I have already put up rocks and yawned but they still don't switch, stalling longer seems to be a bad move often.
Lucario-Mega @ Lucarionite
Ability: Adaptability
Level: 50
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Focus Blast
- Aura Sphere
- Flash Cannon
- Vacuum Wave
I changed Nasty Plot to I think Aura Sphere, also an attempt to counter minimize strategies and I found I'd usually die if I tried to set up for a turn with Nasty Plot (because it doesn't increase my speed, so if something is faster than me it will get to 2HKO me before I can attack). I feel I should go back to Nasty Plot and just learn to counter better, but maybe not use Focus Blast it can miss a bit too often.
Volcarona @ Lum Berry
Ability: Flame Body
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Fire Blast
- Bug Buzz
- Quiver Dance
- Psychic
I am thinking I will change Fire Blast to Fiery Dance, otherwise this set is good, however if I give Dragonite the Lum Berry I will have to find something else to use.
so TLDR;
- I never use Cloyster, I would like to switch him, I do have a Timid Thundurus with max SpA, Spe and HP iv's I can use, open to other suggestions. I haven't caught a lot of the legendaries because I didn't know what stats to go for yet.
- Need a few tips on move-sets.
- Is casino Gengar viable in non-mega form?(Focus Sash)
- Evasion Boosting / Baton Pass teams are a bit problematic as are M-Venasaur and Greninja.
- Is it worth making dragonite more bulky, keeping weakness policy so I can do one dragon dance and survive an ice beam (if possible), activate weakness policy and dragon dance for super-saiyan?
- Happy to switch any poke really that isn't Dragonite/Lucario/Hippowdon
I'm ok to lose to some strategies, I think I'd rather have a strong matchup against the majority than worrying about losing to small niches often, and as people have said showdown meta and actual BattleSpot are different I don't know if I'll see as much minimize/baton pass shenanigans.
Thanks in advance for any and all assistance, just want to iron some things out before I finish it on cart. If this should be in the RMT please let me know but I don't feel the team is finished per-se, just things I've tried.